NY State Dept of Health The New York State Department of Health is alerting the public, providers and local health officials about low levels of measles virus that was detected in a wastewater sample collected earlier this week from a treatment facility serving parts of the City of Oswego and surrounding areas. The Department is issuing a health advisory to area hospitals and health facilities urging providers to be aware and look for clinical signs and symptoms of measles when examining patients.
At this time, no measles cases have been identified in a person in Oswego County or surrounding areas.
“Wastewater surveillance is an early warning system that helps us stay a step ahead of infectious diseases,” State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said. “This detection does not mean there is an outbreak. It is, however, a timely reminder to make sure you and your family are up to date on the MMR vaccine and to keep an eye out for symptoms.”
The New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center has been routinely testing for measles in wastewater samples from numerous locations around the state since October 2024. However, this recent detection in Oswego was from one of two locations tested by the national commercial company, WastewaterSCAN. The Department was notified by WastewaterSCAN, that a low level of measles virus was detected in a sample collected in the City of Oswego. Further testing on additional samples will be performed by both Wadsworth and Wastewater SCAN next week.
Wastewater surveillance is a vital early warning tool that can detect both symptomatic and asymptomatic virus cases in a community by sampling untreated sewage entering wastewater treatment plants. It serves as a reliable indicator of disease burden within an area at any given time and has been a gold standard early detection tool in New York State since 2022.